Touch eyes 16 teams

The organisers of the Bluesky Boxing Day Touch Tournament are eyeing atleast 16 teams in the annual event which will be held on Thursday at The Swamp in Avatiu.

As of yesterday, 12 teams had confirmed their participation and tournament coordinator Julz Westrupp said they were expecting atleast four more teams when the registration closes later today.

Of the 12 teams, 11 have registered in the open division while one in the social category.

Westrupp said this showed the teams were hungry for some tough touch competition on the Boxing Day.

“There are a couple of family reunion teams while the rest are local clubs. The funny thing is all of them except one have entered in the serious category so we are anticipating some tough competition on the day,” she said.

“We have 12 teams so far and we are looking at 16 teams in total. But if it goes further (than 16), we will go with it. The aim is 16 teams.”

The 2018 Bluesky Boxing Day Touch champions Taokotai are among the teams confirmed for this year’s tournament. This is a young exciting family team who joined the tournament last year for the first time with most of the players from New Zealand looking forward to defending the title.

Also returning to the tournament for the third time from Auckland is Northern Stormers, former champions RBDC and the ever faithful 007.

Julz Westrupp said they were hoping for some good weather in the remaining days to ensure the field, which is soggy after the heavy rain, is ready for the tournament.

The tournament is a “fun touch competition” open to holidaying locals from overseas, family reunion teams locally and from overseas and anyone looking for an active activity to run off the Christmas kaikai.

Cook Islands Touch president Daphne Brown earlier said: “The Boxing Day Touch is one way to get our people active and healthy.”

The registration fee for the Bluesky-sponsored tournament is $120 for teams that provide a referee and $160 for teams that do not have a referee.

The tournament welcomes any touch referee who is visiting during the festive period or anyone wishing to referee on the day.

Teams must be in uniform which can be fun and funky.

For more information contact Julz Westrupp on 55055 or Daphne Brown 54171.